Mrs. Yeager
kim.yeager@lcps.org
Early Childhood Education II
2011-2012 Syllabus
Course Description: Early Childhood Education II is the continuation of Early Childhood Education I. In this
course, students work hands on in our own Little Knights Preschool in which 20 preschoolers (age 3-5) attend
class onsite from October to May. Level two students will take on a leadership role within the classroom as
well as continue to plan and execute age-appropriate lessons and activities. In addition, students will research
how an early childhood program is operated and organized and create a portfolio of their findings.
Schedule:
 This year we will have Little Knights Preschool on A Days.
 When the children are not here, you will have in-class instruction and opportunities to plan your
lessons.
 For the first few weeks of class, we will focus on “refreshing” your skills and learning about
preschool from more of a managerial perspective.
 For the remainder of the year, you will use non-preschool days to work independently on special
lessons designed for level 2 students. When you finish your assignment for the day, you will have a
chance to work on your portfolio, bulletin board, newsletter, or upcoming lesson.
Required Materials:
 A binder with paper or a notebook and a folder to organize classroom materials
 Pen or pencil—Do not write in marker!
 A T-shirt will be provided to you to wear each day that the preschool is in session. The shirt will be
paid for by the preschool. However, if you should lose your shirt, the cost will be $10 to replace it.
Tuberculosis Test:
A Tuberculosis Test (TB Test) is required for you to be enrolled in the class. A test is required if:
 it has been more than two years since your last test, OR;
 you have been out of the country since your last test.
You may obtain the TB test through the county here at school at no charge to you. You must complete the
paperwork to obtain permission to have this test completed at school.
Dress Code:
 While preschool is in session: You must wear your T-shirt. No short skirts or short shorts.
Appropriate shoes. JCHS dress code also applies.
 When preschool is not in session: Regular school attire within the parameters of the JCHS dress
code.
Classroom Expectations:
 Be on time. 10 points are automatically deducted from your daily grade for being late.
 No profane or inappropriate language—may cause you to be removed from the program.
 Work diligently and be a team player—everyone has a job to do. HELP CLEAN UP!
 Focus and engage on the preschool students at all times.
 No gum or outside food in the preschool classroom at all times.
 Appropriately communicate with parents
 Follow AUP (Acceptable User Policy) at all times
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Follow all rules outlined in the student handbook
NO CELL PHONES
ALWAYS BE PREPARED. ALL THE TIME. NO EXCUSES.
Attendance:
 You will be expected to make up any missed work during class instruction days.
 If you miss your teaching day:
o DO NOT schedule an appointment on your teaching day. You will know in advance when
you are teaching…plan accordingly.
o You must send an email to your teacher or call the school to let your teacher know of your
absence BEFORE your class period.
o You must contact your group members on your own time.
o If you group members are prepared and can carry on with the lesson without you will not
be penalized but will be required to complete a make-up assignment.
o If your group members can not conduct the lesson without you, you will receive a “zero”
for the day.
***Get the phone number and email address of your partner to communicate with them to avoid
these issues.
 On preschool days when you are NOT teaching, you will not be penalized until you miss your 3 rd
day in the same quarter. This means you get to miss 2 days, per quarter, without being penalized.
The third time you are absent you will be required to complete a make-up assignment.
**SNOW DAYS: If you are scheduled to teach and school is canceled due to snow, you will teach the next day! If
we miss an entire week, you will be rescheduled to teach at a later date and will we keep with the original
schedule.
Grading and Assignments:
 When you are not schedule to teach but the preschool is in session, you will be given a
participation grade for the day. See rubric.
 When you are scheduled to teach, you are graded on your individual efforts. See rubric.
 On non-preschool days, you will have several in-class assignments that you will be graded on
throughout the year. You will also be given participation grades during planning class periods.
 Newsletter: You will be required to create a parent newsletter that will be distributed to the
preschool parents. The newsletter will be created with a partner. You will be assigned a due date
in advance. See rubric.
 Bulletin Board: You will be required to design a bulletin board with a partner. You will be assigned
a due date in advance. See rubric.
 Portfolio: You will be required to create a portfolio for this class. You will turn in parts of the
portfolio throughout the year. Submissions to your portfolio will be graded monthly as well as at
the end of the year. Your final portfolio grade will serve as your final exam grade. There is no final
exam.
Since you are a level 2 student, more is expected of you! Don’t come to class with an excuse!
Review the rubrics below so you are prepared for all due dates and requirements. If you have a
question ASK or email Mrs. Yeager!
Bulletin Board Rubric
With a partner from your class, design a bulletin board using the following requirements:
• Relates to the monthly theme (10 points)
• Contains a heading or title, neatly cut out of paper (10 points)
• Correctly constructed using proper bulletin board techniques (background paper, border, etc.) (20 points)
• Limited use of markers or drawings directly onto board---for example, don’t draw a sun on a white
background, cut it out of paper! (15 points)
• Includes one element of texture (example cotton balls for clouds) OR is interactive (you can move things
around, open doors, etc) (10 points)
• Age appropriate (10 points)
• Eye catching, neatly designed, proportionate sizes, finished look (25 points)
The following dates are available to sign up. Write down which date you and your partner sign up for. Your
bulletin board will be up for approximately two weeks. Your bulletin board must be up by the morning of your
due date. You cannot destruct the prior bulletin board until the Friday before you assigned date. This gives
your Thursday, Friday, or Monday morning to put up your bulletin board. Plan accordingly. You will want to
have things cut out in advance!!!
Due Date
September 28th
October 26th
November 30th
December 20th
January 31st
February 28th
March 29th
April 30th
Theme
All About Me
Fall
Community Helpers
Winter
Families
Animals
Spring
Our Environment
Newsletter Rubric
You are required to create a newsletter to be distributed to the parents of our preschool students. You will
work with a partner to complete the newsletter. Each team member needs to participate in writing. You will
grade your group members on their participation.
Newsletter Requirements:
 Created in Microsoft Publisher
 At least 4 pages long
 Contains the following sections:
 Upcoming Events: A calendar of the upcoming month and themes. Include important events
and school closings.
 Early Childhood Education: What have our ECE 1 and 2 students been studying in class in the
past month? What have you specifically learned to help you in the preschool?
 Student Connection: Interview two students from class for the newsletter. Include their
picture, what they enjoy most about the class, etc.
 @ Home: Come up with an activity or craft parents can do with their children at home that
relates to the month’s theme. Give them the correct instructions, materials needed, etc.
 Research topic of your choice: Pick a topic that relates to early childhood education (health
issues, emotional development, autism, etc) and write an article to inform parents about the
topic. Your research topic must be approved by your teacher, at least five paragraphs, and you
must site your sources.
 Include pictures from class, fun quotes from the preschool students, and clip art
 Other sections may be added….get creative!
 Each section must include who it was written by
 Use appropriate spelling and grammar!
 Newsletter must be turned in on or before due date. Your teacher will grade your work and have
you make corrections before final printing.
All about Teaching
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You will teach with a partner. In some instances, you may have three people in your group, but no more than
three.
You and your partner must sign up to teach at minimum one time per semester.
You will have class time on non-preschool days to prepare for your lesson.
Being absent on the day of your lesson is not advised. If your partner can complete the lesson individually, you
will not be penalized but will be required to complete an extensive make-up assignment. If your partner cannot
teach without you, or is also absent, you will receive a zero out of 300 points.
Parent’s Morning Out Schedule
9:15a:
Parent Drop Off
9:15-9:30a: Free Play
9:30-9:40a: Circle Time (Pledge, Calendar, Letter/Number)
9:40-9:50a: Story Time
9:50-10:10a: Lesson
10:10-10:30a: Art
10:30-10:40: Snack
10:40-11:00a: Free Play
11:00-11:10a: Circle Time (Pledge, Calendar, Letter/Number)
11:10-11:20a: Story Time
11:20-11:40a: Lesson
11:40-11:50a: Art
12:00pm
Parent Pick up
Centers:
 Monday is always “Centers” day. When your class period has Centers there will be no teachers that day.
When you do not have centers, you will either be planning a Math, History, or Science lesson that relates
to the weekly theme. For your lesson, you will need to do the following:
– Read a story that relates to the lesson or theme
– Teach your lesson using the Promethean Board, Puppet Show, Props, Felt Board, etc.
– Give the students a chance to practice the lesson with an activity
– Create an art project with the students that relates to the lesson or weekly theme
Center Rules:
• Only four students per center. Students can rotate centers freely with your supervision as often as they
want to. To encourage students to move to a new center who haven’t, a signal will be given after twenty
minutes into center time. If your student has remained in the same center the entire time, encourage
him/her to find another center.
• Not all centers will be open every day, but most will. If the center is closed, a sign will be placed by the
center.
• Encourage the students to interact with each other but also play nicely and share. If a toy is being fought
over, first see if the students can share, then remove the toy.
• Centers should be fun. Don’t frustrate your student by trying to make them learn a skill. Remember this is
when they get to make choices! Help guide their learning, but also ask them what they would like to do.
Current Centers:
• Writing Center: Students are given materials to practice writing letters, numbers, and their name.
• Math Center: Students are given materials to practice shapes, patterns, counting, money, etc.
• Library: Read to students or practice phonics. Let them look at pictures and tell you what they think is
happening in the story.
• Imagination Station: This is the kitchen, house, and puppet center. Play with your student and let
their imagination do the work!
• Exploration Station: This station will be constantly changing. There might be cool bugs to look at or a
globe of the world. This is a great station to ask your student questions to get him/her thinking!
• Art: Instead of telling your student what to make, let them create whatever they want. Don’t
overwhelm them with supplies, just get out a few things and see what they think of!
• Blocks: Blocks are a great manipulative to get little hands working. Encourage them to build things
together.
• Puzzles: Puzzles are also a great manipulative. Have them sort pieces by color, ask questions, create a
learning opportunity.
• Touch Table: This table is all about sensory development. The table will be filled with rice, sand,
water, etc. with different objects to play with.
• Computers: The computers will not always be available but when they are it is for educational
purposes! There are lots of education games online but the computers will only be used for
www.starfall.com. The student can practice the letter of the day or a different letter. Please limit time
on the computer to 15 minutes.
Curriculum Binder:
 Once you have an idea of what you want to do, you will need to fill out a Lesson Plan Form and submit it to
the Curriculum Binder. I suggest you also keep a form for yourself. You need to give your teacher a one
week notice from your lesson date if you need any materials.
Rules for your Lesson:
• You must use a variety of teaching tools. If you use the promethean board EVERY lesson you will be
penalized. Remember, most preschools do not have promethean boards. You need to learn how to
teach lessons in other ways too!
• Your activity must be hands on. In cannot be just a worksheet. If you would like to add a worksheet to
something you already have planned for students who finish early that is fine. Showing a video is not
an activity however you can show a short video clip to enhance your lesson.
• Your art project cannot be a coloring sheet. Think CRAFT! What can the students create? Coloring
sheets will be given a zero. Parents have asked for us to use NO GLITTER during art this year. If you
have a special request please see your teacher.
• You are responsible for filling the block of time allotted for your lesson (usually 45 minutes). If you go
too far over or under the allotted time your grade will be penalized. Have “emergency” activities for
them to do if they finish too quickly. Also don’t plan a project that will take 3 hours!
• There are LOTS of books out there. If you cannot find an appropriate book for your lesson in either our
classroom library or school library, the librarians can order you a book from another school. You need
to do this in advance! You can also visit the public library!
• If you are teaching on or near a special day, for example Valentine’s Day and wish to create a special
lesson that deviates from the normal routine, please see your teacher. We can make arrangements for
special activities but your teacher needs to be notified in advance.
Portfolio Rubric
Your portfolio is the most important part of Early Childhood Education II. You will be given class time to work
on your portfolio but you might have to work on it at home as well. It is an individual project. Throughout the
year, different portions of the portfolio will be due. You can work in advance, but assignments will not be
accepted until their due date.
Your portfolio can either be in the form of a binder, folder with prongs, or a scrapbook. It should be
professional, but can still be fun.
Assignment
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Description
Due Date
Understanding Birth to Age 6
Daily Schedule
Room Design
Child Abuse Certificate
Promoting a Safe and Healthy Environment
Early Childhood Disorders
Fostering Emotional, Social, Cognitive and Physical Development
Developmental Theories of Early Childhood Education Research Paper
Parent Newsletter
Resume and Cover Letter
Sample Lessons
December 3
Mid-term Exam Day
Mid-term Exam Day
Mid-term Exam Day
Mid-term Exam Day
February 1
March 1
April 1
May 1
Final Exam Day
Final Exam Day
**Assignment 1-5 will be used as a midterm grade. Assignments 1-11 will be used as a final exam grade regardless of
exception. Some assignments will also be graded individually.
#
1
2
Description
Understanding Birth to
Age 6
Daily Schedule
3
Room Design
4
Child Abuse Certificate
5
Promoting a Safe and
Healthy Environment
Criteria
Create a chart of the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual developmental
stages a child goes through from birth to age six. See sample in class.
Provide a sample daily schedule you would follow in your early childhood education
program starting with parent drop off and ending with parent pick up. Make sure
each event has a start and end time. Also provide a sample monthly calendar with
an overall plan of daily themes and/or special activities. You only need to plan for
one month.
Write a half page, double spaced, size 12 font paper answering the following
question: What kind of curriculum would you implement in your preschool
program? Why?
Using a blank white piece of paper or a piece of graph paper, draw a picture from a
bird’s eye view of the classroom where you would be a teacher of an early
childhood education program. Your picture should be in color. Include three
paragraphs (5 sentences each) explaining why you chose the set up of your room.
Go to
http://www.dss.virginia.gov/family/cps/mandated_reporters/cws5691/index.html
The website will walk you through a serious of topics you will need to read about.
After you read through each topic you will be awarded a Certificate of Completion.
Print out the certificate.
Pretend you are writing an article for a teacher’s magazine that goes out to early
childhood teachers all over the country. You’ve been asked to share with other
preschool teachers how to provide a positive, safe, and healthy environment for
6
Early Childhood Disorders
7
Fostering Emotional,
Social,
Cognitive and Physical
Development
8
Developmental Theories
of Early Childhood
Education Research Paper
9
Parent Newsletter
10
Resume and Cover Letter
their students. Write one page. Use Microsoft Publisher to make it look like a
magazine article for extra credit. Pictures are encouraged.
Choose an early childhood disorder. There are LOTS! Choose from the class list or
pick your own. Some ideas: Autism, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Bipolar, Reactive
Attachment Disorder, ADD/ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, etc. Pretend you are writing
an article for a parent’s magazine. Write a full page article explaining the disorder
to parents including signs/symptoms, treatments, accommodations, parent
resources, etc. Site your sources. Include pictures or clip art.
Answer each question with ½ page response. Type out the question and then the
answer. Total assignment should be 2 pages, double spaced, size 12 font.
1) How would you promote the physical development of your students?
2) How would you promote the cognitive development of your students?
3) How would you promote the social development of your students?
4) How would you promote the emotional development of your students?
Choose one of the major child development theorists: Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson,
Jean Piaget, John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, Lawrence Kohlberg, Lev
Vygotsky, John Dewey, Maria Montessori, etc. Write about the theorist’s life, their
particular theory, and how to apply their theory in a practical way. Write a two
page, double spaced, size 12 font paper. Site your sources.
Create a parent newsletter for the preschool or for your imaginary class. Your
newsletter must be at least one page long and contain three different entries. You
may include entries from the newsletter you already created if it was your
INDIVIDUAL work. One entry must answer the following question: Why do you feel
it is important to promote positive relationships with the parents of your students?
Give examples of how you do so. Remember you are writing to the parents. Use
Microsoft Publisher to make it look like a magazine article.
Write a letter to a potential employer describing why you would be a good
candidate for an early childhood education position. You are trying to sell yourself
to the employer! Your letter should be in block format, written like a formal
business letter. The body of the letter needs to be a least two paragraphs. Since
you do not know who you are writing the letter to, your greeting can be “To Whom
It May Concern:” Your letter can be no longer than 1 page.
Create a resume for and early childhood education position. Include your contact
information, education level, and work experience. Your resume should be no
longer than 1 page.
11
Sample Lessons
Include THREE sample lessons. The lessons can be old or new. Pictures and
samples are recommended and should be placed behind each lesson. The lesson
must be typed in the appropriate format.
**Your teacher has a sample of many of these items. Work in advance! Cite all sources! Ask Questions!
For your final portfolio, please put your assignments in the following order:
Cover Letter
Resume
**Include the AAFCS assessment certificate here if you pass!
Child Abuse Certificate
Understanding Birth to Age 6
Developmental Theory Paper
Early Childhood Disorders
Fostering Development Paper
Promoting a Safe and Healthy Environment
Room Design
Sample Schedule
Parent Newsletter
Sample Work